Frank Nilsen and Holly Richards, residents of Fir Place, in Bellmawr, talk about the problems that the 295/76 construction has brought to their street, Thursday, May 15, 2014. (Staff Photo by Joe Warner/South Jersey Times)

However, in the short-term, it's meant only sink holes and multiple water service outages for residents living on and around Fir Place — a tiny cul-de-sac just feet from where I-295 northbound traffic merges with I-76.

There, neighbors report experiencing six water outages during the past nine months, caused by construction equipment striking a water main.

In addition, the construction has caused a series of large sink holes in the road. Crews progressively moved the retaining walls over, blocking the holes from traffic. However, that has effectively cut the width of the road in half. New, large cracks have also appeared along the center of Fir Place.

"It's just been one thing after another," said Frank Nilsen who lives on Fir Place with his wife. "One time, something hit a hydraulic line, and hydraulic fluid got all over a someone's property. The industrial machines connected to the lights run all day."

Holly Richards, Nilsen's neighbor, said both of them have been trying to complain to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, but to no avail.

They added that the state hasn't reached out to residents "at all" during the construction, and they feel their concerns are continuously bounced from the contractor, to the state, to the municipality and back again without providing any solutions.

"Every time you wake up, it's like a guessing game — 'Am I going to have water today?'" said Richards, 39, who lives with her husband and two children. "And when the water goes out, we hear don't hear anything from anyone.

"The last time I head back from the state, they offered to bring cases of water and a Porta-Potty the next time it happened."

Nilsen, 41, said his luck hasn't been as good.

"I haven't gotten any calls back, ever," he said. "The whole point is, if there was more communication, it wouldn't really be a problem. We just want information."

The NJDOT is undertaking a 10-year, $900 million project to overhaul the long-bemoaned I-295/I-76/Route 42 interchange, simplifying traffic patterns and reconfiguring exits in order to improve safety and congestion issues.

The first phase of the project, scheduled to end in 2015, includes the construction of 10 new bridges, a new ramp going from Route 42 north onto I-295 north, a new drainage system at Market Street under I-76 and other improvements south of the interchange.

The second phase, which began this year, will take the project into late 2016, and will include construction on I-295 north of the interchange.

The overall project, dubbed "Direct Connection," will see the construction of an I-295 overpass over Route 42 and I-76, making it possible for 295 to continue through the area unbroken.

Fir Place is located just where the new overpass is slated to be built.

Nilsen and Richards stated the residents of the street are mulling the idea of filing a class action lawsuit against the state regard the water outages — not for money, they say, but to simply get a response from NJDOT.

"We honestly don't know how else to get their attention," said Richards.

A spokesman for the NJDOT did not return a request for comment Friday.